Like everyone in the universe it seems, I have periodically done Weight Watchers. However, over the last couple of years I've realized that even a moderate dieting approach doesn't seem to work for me (for me! Totally jealous of all of you making it work) and that something seems to be missing. I started reading every book on intuitive eating I could find -- Geneen Roth, Linda Bacon, the actual "Intuitive Eating" book and on and on -- and the approach really resonates.

Of course, it's still really hard! So I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with this -- what works and what doesn't and what they think of it.

I think the keys for me have been detaching exercise from weight loss or even fitness goals of any kind, but just one of the things I do during the day that a) makes me feel better and b) is enjoyable in and of itself. Also doing other things in the same way... really thinking about making my daily activities things I enjoy and not just means to some impossible end. The big thing about intuitive eating is awareness and this is really tough for me. I find it difficult to stick with meditation. I find it difficult to stay aware much of the time because I do get scared at the rawness. At the same time, it makes you feel wonderfully alive.

I am not very educated on "Intuitive Eating" per se, but I've been working with a nutritionist for a few months and it sounds like she's teaching me some of the same ideas you bring up. She is big on de-stigmatizing food and increasing awareness of how I *feel* when I eat certain foods, do certain activities, etc. (The fact that I am now aware of how certain foods make me feel rather than just how they taste and how much more I can shove in my mouth is mind-blowing in and of itself!) It's not about weight loss for me, it's about overall health at any size, which is really SO much more important than being skinny to me. After spending my entire life trying lose weight by restricting calories and exercising, only to get so far and gain all the weight back (cue shame spiral), it has been really helpful to shift my perspective. Maybe my body just wasn't built to be skinny and that is something I am okay with now. I can still take care of myself and feel beautiful and worthwhile and know that I'm probably healthier than a lot of people who weigh less than me.

I have a tough time with "awareness" as well because I let the daily routine get the best of me and just straight up forget to do nice things for myself! I have managed to incorporate certain things into my routine daily, like walking home from work (30 minutes or so), and now if I miss even a day I really feel the difference. But I do want to work on incorporating more meditation, exercise, and "me" time into my days. It's a lot to learn when you aren't used to paying attention to your mind or body at all! It'll get easier with time though (one of the reasons I'm not afraid of aging).

Best of luck in your journey! It'd be nice to continue using this thread to offer support/encouragement for those of us trying to be more aware and mindful when it comes to food and not focus so much on weight loss...

_________________"Also (in the slightly paraphrased words of Bernard Black): 'Cake, pie, it's an impossible choice. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow blows up and kills me.'" - Gunk

Not entirely sure if this is intuitive eating or not, but I've had quite a bit of success losing weight (30 lbs) by only eating when I know I'm hungry (it sounds silly, but we often get the urge to eat when we're bored, or when we're around others who are eating, or when we look at too many pictures of food porn . . .) and stopping before I feel full. It does involve being aware of your how your body feels, and listening to it.

OddCoupleEats: I'm so struck by what you wrote. I totally get the shame cycle, the regain, the whole thing. That's me too! I'd love to keep the thread going as encouragement for all of us and I'd love to hear more about what you do in your daily life and how things are going for you. Not sure why I'm so resistent to meditation, when I feel so much better doing it regularly! One of those wonderful mysteries.

Great website, mollyjade. She is so right on with taking the stigma out of food and weight and taking care of ourselves.

Starry -- congrats! I'd love to hear more about how your process has worked. Do you find yourself incorporating meditation at all? Sounds like what you're doing -- paying attention to your hunger and how you feel -- is exactly intuitive eating. Tell us more!

Hi, iamnotapottedplant! Just want to check-in and see how things are going for you. Have you been finding any of this any easier? I know what you mean about meditation - it makes me feel great, but I'm so resistant to making it a habit. Can you make a reasonable meditation schedule and stick to it? I did it for 10 minutes a day as soon as I got home from work and that lasted for awhile.

I've been trying to get back to basics after the holiday over-eating I did, but it's been SO hard! My body quickly gets used to eating way too much and I just don't feel satisfied with having "just enough". I was at a pretty good place with portion sizes, hardly any sugar, and no caffeine before the holidays, but now I feel like I need tons of food, lots of sugar, and some caffeine to get through the day. I'm cutting it out little by little and trying to be patient with myself, but it's a bummer considering I was doing so well before. It's funny how I so often equate celebrating with ingesting things that make me feel terrible and that get me so far off track. Maybe I'll make it a goal this year to make celebrations less about bad food/drink and more about some activity or experience that will enrich me.

I've kept up my walking, but have neglected any other exercise for awhile. Need to get myself back into the swing of things!

_________________"Also (in the slightly paraphrased words of Bernard Black): 'Cake, pie, it's an impossible choice. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow blows up and kills me.'" - Gunk

Hey OCE! I can't believe you mentioned that -- I actually did a ten-minute meditation this morning for the first time in ages. AGES! There must be something about it, that even though so many people talk about the benefits and I've felt them myself, that makes it hard to believe it REALLY helps. Or maybe it just seems too hard. I'm not sure. But I think it did do something for me today because it was a better day for me with having awareness with food, with just slowing down and taking care of myself.

What you described is exactly how I am after a couple of weeks of craziness. It is so hard to get back to myself. Last night I just said that if nothing else, I wouldn't have pop today, and I didn't, which made me feel much better. Pop makes me feel terrible (I get heart palps with too much caffeine/sugar) and I get anxious about my teeth.

As far as a schedule, I've been feeling pretty good about just doing something every day -- not capital E exercise, per se, but just taking a walk for however long I feel like it, just to enjoy it and to take better care of myself. Now that that feels more a part of my routine, I think I'm ready to add the meditation, just ten minutes, to my daily schedule. We'll see. I'm going to try! I know it's helpful for me.

I like your idea about celebrations. About making them about something that actually makes you feel good. Or even just enjoying the celebratory foods and really paying attention to them and eating with awareness. I really want that! Keep me posted on how you're doing. I think this is the hardest part, getting back to those basics you're talking about. Because you know how when things are going well and you're really paying attention and aware? And how you feel like, wow, this is so easy, I'll ALWAYS be able to do this? And then something happens and you have this complete reversal into old patterns. For me, it comes as such a shock and disappointment every time, but I'm thinking now that that's just part of it... okay, I am seriously meandering now. :)

Good luck to both of us! Can't wait to hear how it goes for you the rest of the week. Take care!

I do IE, and it is really hard for me. I read the book and it all makes sense and it is how my husband and brother actually eat. Only when they are hungry, not when prescribed (don't eat dinner if you aren't hungry for dinner, crazy!!), and so on. What is really hard for me is when I gain is to not commit myself to a diet or some quick fix but to figure out what my body is telling me (other than the fact that it probably doesn't want cake for every meal).

Honestly, I have a lot of mental talks with myself. "I want a cookie...why do I want a cookie...if I eat a cookie is it just going to satisfy me emotionally or is it a physical need...am I bored and just want a cookie...am I actually hungry..." and so on. I'm kind of still at the phase where I need to give my brain 20 questions and I do slip up and eat when my body doesn't need it. I at least now recognize when I'm eating emotionally and I don't blame myself, I just accept it for what it is and try to get to the bottom of the problem (bored/sad/upset) before I make it a pure downward spiral.

Xanthia -- yes, I totally panic when I feel myself gaining and really miss the hope I always felt at the start of a new diet. So addictive. It IS really hard to learn to be an intuitive eater and I too have people in my life that do it naturally and I'm amazed and envious.

Seems like you're doing wonderfully well to me, especially in recognizing there is something underlying the emotional eating and trying to address it. I really want to get there!

So I just read "The Diet Survivor's Handbook" which deals with the concepts of intuitive eating, health at every size, and the myths perpetuated by the diet industry. So much of what I read just clicked for me. I gained 20 pounds about 2 years ago and lost most of the weight very quickly thanks to Weight Watchers and calorie counting, but have been trying in vain to shave off another 15 pounds for the past few years through various diet methods. I go on a diet and get derailed after a few days or weeks and then gain the weight back.

So I've been practicing intuitive eating for the last few days and so far it's going really well. I eat slowly, focus on savoring my food, and remind myself that anything I don't eat I can eat later if I'm actually hungry. The only real issue I have is that my fridge is filling up with leftovers really fast. Knowing when I'm satisfied is a bit hard to detect because I'm really used to eating until I'm full or stuffed. One question I ask myself that really helps is, "if I wasn't eating right now would I feel like I should start to eat something?"

I'm really excited about IE. It took a bit for me to come around to it because I had to recognize that through this form of eating I may not lose any weight, and I may remain my current size for a really long tiime. It's hard to be okay with that, but I'm working really hard on having a positive body image. While I was reading the book I could actually feel myself doing mental back flips to justify not taking dieting off the table, but ultimately I had to admit that dieting just isn't a healthy solution and it's not working for me.

So much of stuff related to IE focuses on people who overeat when they are depressed or stressed, but I actually tend to overeat when I'm happy or celebrating. I love to eat for fun (trying new restaurants, food tourism, etc.). I think I can have a healthy relationship with food and still like eating, but I think it may involve a lot of to-go boxes and just sampling foods.

So I just read "The Diet Survivor's Handbook" which deals with the concepts of intuitive eating, health at every size, and the myths perpetuated by the diet industry. So much of what I read just clicked for me. I gained 20 pounds about 2 years ago and lost most of the weight very quickly thanks to Weight Watchers and calorie counting, but have been trying in vain to shave off another 15 pounds for the past few years through various diet methods. I go on a diet and get derailed after a few days or weeks and then gain the weight back.

So I've been practicing intuitive eating for the last few days and so far it's going really well. I eat slowly, focus on savoring my food, and remind myself that anything I don't eat I can eat later if I'm actually hungry. The only real issue I have is that my fridge is filling up with leftovers really fast. Knowing when I'm satisfied is a bit hard to detect because I'm really used to eating until I'm full or stuffed. One question I ask myself that really helps is, "if I wasn't eating right now would I feel like I should start to eat something?"

I'm really excited about IE. It took a bit for me to come around to it because I had to recognize that through this form of eating I may not lose any weight, and I may remain my current size for a really long tiime. It's hard to be okay with that, but I'm working really hard on having a positive body image. While I was reading the book I could actually feel myself doing mental back flips to justify not taking dieting off the table, but ultimately I had to admit that dieting just isn't a healthy solution and it's not working for me.

So much of stuff related to IE focuses on people who overeat when they are depressed or stressed, but I actually tend to overeat when I'm happy or celebrating. I love to eat for fun (trying new restaurants, food tourism, etc.). I think I can have a healthy relationship with food and still like eating, but I think it may involve a lot of to-go boxes and just sampling foods.

Thanks for your post, Nebraskalaska. I've been trying to do this IE thing for the past couple of weeks, since I got back from a long vacation. Before I went away, I religiously counted calories on the Livestrong website and charted my weight fanatically. But ever since the vacation ended, I haven't been on Livestrong once. I'm trying to just eat however much I truly feel like I need, rather than pre-calculating portions and figuring out how many calories I have left in my day, etc. It's a lot less stressful this way, but the problem is that I am actually 6 lbs. heavier now than I was before the vacation. Right now, I'm trying to look on the positive side and remember that I am eating healthy foods, and not over-gorging myself or starving myself (I've been guilty of plenty of both in the past). It is discouraging to me that the weight is piling on, but it helps to hear that others are having success with this method.

And as you said, I do tend to eat more when my life is going well. Maybe that's contributing to the problem, since I am less stressed from the eating obsession? I don't know. But thank you for sharing.

I have had great success with IE. I read the book "Intuitive Eating" a few years ago and it finally clicked. I had read something similar many years ago and it didn't stick at that time. I credit the change in part to having undergone counseling in between my 2 attempts to deal with some of my other "stuff." When I read IE several years ago I was in a much better place mental health wise. I have a history of cycles of restricting, bingeing, calorie counting, deprivation, weight watchers points counting, and lots of very negative self-talk to "motivate" myself. Now I eat what I want, I don't beat myself up, I have no forbidden foods (aside from non-vegan foods obviously), I do not weigh myself, I take a walk or do yoga when I feel like it - not because I "should." The mental space that has been cleared by not obsessing over food and weight is HUGE.IE has brought such peace to me that I even became a certified IE counselor! I am so happy to see this thread on the board because all the calorie counting threads make me cringe.There is a fairly active yahoo group for IE support if anyone is interested:http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/In ... g_Support/There is also a forum at IntuitiveEating.org

Thanks for bumping the thread nebraskalaska! I have been on a journey for the last year and a half to gain more self acceptance at any size. I'm still a work in progress and I STILL have a lot of triggers. But I've gotten a lot of skills (in/from therapy) to deal with my anxiety/boredom/etc triggers for eating food. I'm trying to eat intuitively ish although I'm having a hard time letting go of semi-keeping track. I'm part of a FB group called Eating the Food (found via NDPIttman here) which has been really helpful in dealing with the days/hours/moments where I feel panicked and want to restrict my food rather than eat healthfully to fuel my exercise and life. Basically: I'm a work in progress. :)

_________________"Vegan to me means Oreos for breakfast." -Poopiebitch"tl;dr: I quit working to drink beer paid for with gift cards" erikasoyf*cker

I have had great success with IE. I read the book "Intuitive Eating" a few years ago and it finally clicked. I had read something similar many years ago and it didn't stick at that time. I credit the change in part to having undergone counseling in between my 2 attempts to deal with some of my other "stuff." When I read IE several years ago I was in a much better place mental health wise. I have a history of cycles of restricting, bingeing, calorie counting, deprivation, weight watchers points counting, and lots of very negative self-talk to "motivate" myself. Now I eat what I want, I don't beat myself up, I have no forbidden foods (aside from non-vegan foods obviously), I do not weigh myself, I take a walk or do yoga when I feel like it - not because I "should." The mental space that has been cleared by not obsessing over food and weight is HUGE.IE has brought such peace to me that I even became a certified IE counselor! I am so happy to see this thread on the board because all the calorie counting threads make me cringe.There is a fairly active yahoo group for IE support if anyone is interested:http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/In ... g_Support/There is also a forum at IntuitiveEating.org

Thanks for the links and the post. It gives me great hope when I read about your success with IE. In particular, your statement about the mental space you've freed up really struck me. It's so true that many of us waste too much time and energy obsessing about food and weight. And becoming a counselor = awesome!

I am still at it and feeling really awesome. Like most chronic dieters I am a walking nutritional database, so it can be really tough to actually accept that I can eat anything I want. Last night I was making a kale salad with a vinagrette dressing and really had to psyche myself up to put the oil in the dressing. I just kept thinking "but the calories!" Kind of silly.

I started reading Intuitive Eating last night and so much in the book speaks to my experiences with dieting. I want to give a copy to everyone I know restricting calories because I know there are so, any people struggling in the exact same ways I was.

It is hard for me to resist giving people copies of IE as I watch them go up and down on the diet roller coaster and beat themselves up about staying on track over and over :( But, as the book says, maybe they have not "hit diet bottom" yet and now is not the time for them.

Yes, Nebraskalaska, I used to be a nutritional database too! (Well, I still am I guess, but I just dont think about it hardly ever.) But knowing all those calorie counts never really helped. I would just use them as ammunition to shame myself :( I felt so restricted when I was counting calories, and the number would be a judgement on how "good" I was. The number of calories, the number on the scale. And then eventually I wouldn't have the "willpower" to continue restricting and would swing back in the opposite direction, saying "fork it" and gain back all the weight I'd lost. Then I'd beat myself up about that! Crazymaking!

I have found that I find meals so much more satisfying when they have some fat in them! I love not worrying about it and adding whatever I think will taste good!

After a few years practicing IE I still go through cycles (they are much much milder than the old restrict/binge cycles!) where I am slightly more aware of my eating and slightly less aware. If I feel my pants getting tighter I just start thinking about whether I have been truly honoring my body and only eating when hungry, and not eating too much past satisfied. I will usually find that I have been getting used to eating a bit more than I need, and eating little things like chocolate at night or something, when I am not really hungry. I try very hard to notice this nonjudgementally and to just promise myself to be more aware and more respectful of my body from this moment and take it from there.

I just need to share my awesome moments from today! I went to the fabric store and was starting to feel a little peckish, fortunately there is an awesome vegan bakery across the street. They have awesome soft serve so my first instinct was to get that, but after truly thinking about it I decided I didn't even want it, I actually wanted one of their awesome salads. The best part was that I happily ate my salad and didn't give the soft serve a second thought. I think normally I would have gotten a giant sundae, despite whether I actually wanted it. It's summer! I want fresh, light food.

I did have a crappy morning where I became super preoccupied with whether I would lose weight or not. I definitely started panicking a bit. I got out of the house, took a walk, and bought myself some new active wear and suddenly I am all body posi again. I think exercise is a huge component of my self esteem.

I am not sure if it is intuitive eating that I am trying to do but I am trying to listen to my body, trying to make choices of food based on how I feel eating them and what I truly feel like eating. My problem is I don't trust my 'intuition', especially as someone who was obese at a very early age prior to any diets. I'd prefer to be on the low end of obesity/overweight category rather than where I am now.

Right now, I'm reading "Health at every size" which is interesting and confirms some of my own experiences within the last few years. The last few years have been a roller coaster where I'd gain weight even while restricting more and more exercise. I've had periods over the last year or so where I'd punish myself by eating which is not a good place to be. So I am focusing on taking care of myself while eating and cooking foods I enjoy.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

Linanil, it sounds like you are dipping your toes into intuitive eating! It can be super hard to trust yourself to eat anything you want, but I've found that since giving myself that freedom I eat far more healthfully more consistently, as opposed to the cycle of bingeing and restricting I used to live on. It's different for everyone at the beginning, but for me the minute I gave myself unconditional permission to eat I lost interest in so many foods that I once deemed off limits. My understanding that it can be more of a process for others, but you will get there!

As a side note, I also love exercising now, it used to feel like a chore when I was also restricting food.

I'm really interested in this. I have the book (the one called Intuitive Eating), but haven't read it yet. I feel like this concept should be so simple, and yet it's not! At least not yet, for me. I can't even always tell when I'm hungry or full. Sometimes I'll feel hungry right after a big meal, because I have occasional sinus issues that make my stomach feel all empty and growly, and that makes me so mad! Ha. I don't need anything else complicating things.

Anyway, I know it might be a difficult process, but I need to try. I tend to eat quickly and mindlessly, and go from skipping meals to eating too much. It's a mess. And I hate counting calories and refuse to do it long-term. When it comes to food I want to feel happy and healthy, not like it's all about denying and restricting.

Linanil, I am there with you. Same cycles of restricting, more exercise, not losing the last couple, etc. As you know from the weightlifting forum I am working on strength and "eating the food" as Go Kaleo says. I think there's pbly a big overlap with her philosophy and what it sounds like Intuitive Eating is. Full disclosure though: during the week I'm tracking but to make sure I get enough protein and see how satiated I am at different calories with different levels of activity and so that I can come to trust my intuition, if that makes sense... Put another way I'm measuring after the fact because I think that I still need the assurance that if I eat intuitively I'm not eating 5kcal a day and I still feel good. Its a process for sure!Also, similar to what Nebraskalaska shared, I found that by allowing myself to eat what I want and in more healthy quantities I don't' have intense cravings for chocolate/fatty foods after dinner like I used to. That surprised me a bit.

My hunger needs to get in line! For the past few days, I've been experiencing subtle hunger cues during the day but loud and clear signals in the middle of the night. Yesterday, I didn't feel very hungry at all during the day but would feel some slight hunger when I started thinking about what I should eat. I made dinner last night and was slightly hungry and it was 8pm so I ate a smallish portion for dinner but then I woke up at 2am starving. When I woke up again in the morning, I was still clearly hungry but not as bad as it was in the middle of the night.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

Yes, that's actually another reason I still track: I totally found that even if I don't eat as much during the day (and that's even if I'm not hungry during the day, its not like i'm depriving myself or anything) at night I'm starving.

I've found that since giving myself that freedom I eat far more healthfully more consistently, as opposed to the cycle of bingeing and restricting I used to live on. It's different for everyone at the beginning, but for me the minute I gave myself unconditional permission to eat I lost interest in so many foods that I once deemed off limits. My understanding that it can be more of a process for others, but you will get there!

As a side note, I also love exercising now, it used to feel like a chore when I was also restricting food.

Yes, yes! I ate an awful lot of Oreos in the beginning because they were one of the foods I had the most weird mental issues with. Why, I don't know. When I finally believed that I could have anything I wanted that's when it all changed for me. It wasn't easy though. What compelled me into this was that I felt I would rather die than continue on with the crazy and irrational struggle I had with food.

[As a side note, when I stopped putting up with my crazy restrictions around food I also stopped putting up with the craziness in my marriage. I had hoped that my marriage could work out as well as my food issues but we separated. This has also been very good for my mental health]

I also used a similar focus with exercise, but years earlier. When I was young I did what the coach told me to do or what I told myself I had to do and I didn't really enjoy the exercise just the results - placing in a meet, being slim and fit looking. When I started running my main focus was to go at whatever pace felt good for 30 minutes. When I don't impose too many external restrictions I love exercising.

I have gone through some definite food phases while practicing IE. The most recent was english muffins slathered in earth balance and tofutti cream cheese. Almost daily for breakfast for like a year maybe. Then one day, all of a sudden, I was tired of them. I'm not sure what's next... but I do like knowing that I can eat anything I want, whenever I want! Today, for example, I had cookies for breakfast.

I also like not putting pressure on myself to exercise. I used to HATE exercise. Because it was a punishment, something I "should" do, not something to enjoy. Now I move when I feel like moving. I walk my dogs, do yardwork, pull weeds. I had been practicing yoga at a studio weekly because I really enjoyed it, but now that it's summer the room that was kept at 80 degrees has been like 95 and humid and I couldn't tolerate it. I am very sensitive to heat and felt awful. So I'm not going to go unless it's a bit cooler. I have been thinking of doing some yoga with videos at home but it's just not the same. But I am trying not to beat myself up about it. My head starts to say, "You should be doing this, and you should be doing that". I keep telling myself it's ok to not be going to yoga right now. I want to keep it something I do because I enjoy, not because I "should" or I have to. I'll figure it out. I'll move when I feel like moving. :)